“I would see Ricardo all the time,” Javon said Tuesday. “We’ve known each other a long time.”
When Bennett, a 5-foot-11 guard, entered the transfer portal on March 22 after one season at Merrimack College, Greer showed Dayton head coach Anthony Grant his film, Bennett said. Grant liked it. The coaches set up a Zoom call with Bennett and told him, “We love your game and think you’d be a great fit.”
That’s how Bennett and his parents ended up on campus last weekend.
“We were blown away by what Dayton had to offer and the resources and the community,” Bennett said, “and we were like, ‘Yeah, it’s a no brainer. This is where I want come next season.’”
Bennett made his commitment while in Grant’s office on Saturday and revealed his decision publicly on Sunday night. He’s the second transfer guard to commit to Dayton this spring, following Enoch Cheeks, a 6-3 guard who played the last three seasons at Robert Morris University.
Bennett and Cheeks join a roster in flux. Dayton has lost four players this spring and six since last December. Two of the returning guards, Malachi Smith and Koby Brea, underwent surgeries this month.
Bennett said the coaches told him forwards Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes II are exploring their NBA draft prospects this spring while maintaining their eligibility.
“Hopefully, those two guys are coming back,” Bennett said, “but (Grant) wants me to come in and make an impact as soon as possible because he doesn’t know the status of the other guys when they come back from injury.”
Bennett’s defensive abilities give him a good chance of earning playing time right away even if everyone is healthy. He ranked second in the country in steals (2.9 per game) as a freshman at Merrimack.
“I’ve always taken pride in playing defense and being able to stop the guy in front of me for however long I’ve been playing basketball,” Bennett said. “I’ve always been a quick guy with good instincts.”
Eric Schneider started coaching Bennett when Bennett was a sophomore at Trinity Prep. Even then, his abilities on defense were evident.
“He’s essentially just this one-man press,” Schneider said, “with the effort he puts in on the defensive end. It was always something that inspired me as a coach and inspired his teammates. He’s just special in terms of his quickness and ability to read the offense. I was very lucky to be able to coach him. First and foremost, he’s just a great kid — one of the hardest working kids I’ve ever coached.”
Bennett was named the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year. He averaged 9.6 points, 3.4 assists and 2.9 steals per game. He shot 44.7% (67 of 150) from 2-point range, 27.9% from 3-point range (46 of 165) and 73.3% (55 of 75) from the free-throw line.
Schneider said Bennett shot close to 40% from 3-point range in high school and saw him improve as his freshman season at Merrimack progressed. He shot 33% (25 of 75) from 3-point range in conference play.
“I think there’s always going to be a transition period going from high school to college, especially at the Division I level,” Schneider said. “There’s always going to be a little bit of a growing period for any player that makes that jump. But he was playing great toward the end of the year, and even if he wasn’t shooting well, he was still making contributions on the defensive end to help the team win.”
Bennett said he was a bigger scorer in high school — he had more than 2,000 career points at Trinity Prep — and had to learn how to be a point guard in his freshman season at Merrimack while picking his spots to score. He felt he improved on the offensive end as he adapted to the speed of the college game.
Bennett helped lead Merrimack to eight straight victories to end the regular season and then three victories in the NEC tournament. It could not participate in the NCAA tournament because it was in the final season of the four-year transition process to Division I. Fairleigh Dickinson, which Merrimack beat in the NEC championship game, received the league’s automatic bid and became the second No. 16 seed to win a game, upsetting No. 1 seed Purdue in the first round.
“We were like, ‘Dang, that should have been us,’” Bennett said, “but we kind of knew walking in that we weren’t going to be able to play in March Madness, so we were just focused on winning our last game of the season, and we were able to do that.”
Schneider followed Bennett and Merrimack throughout the season.
“They did have a really rough start,” he said, “but the run that they had at the end of the season was special. You could tell that they were really gelling, and it was just disappointing that they didn’t get a chance to show what they could do in the (NCAA) tournament.”
It was a difficult decision to transfer, Bennett said, because Merrimack was one of the first schools to take a chance on him.
“They really embraced me and and gave me the keys to the team as a freshman,” Bennett said. “Merrimack will always be family, but at the end of the day, I wanted to do what’s best for me, and my goal is to win a championship at the highest level I can, and I feel like Dayton will give me that opportunity.”
On his recruiting visit, Bennett said the coaches took him to dinner at Coco’s Bistro.
“That first night, I would say that we had a lot of food, plenty of food,” Bennett said. “I got to meet some of the coaching staff, some of the team. On Saturday, I took a tour of the campus. I was able to see where I’ll be living and the weight room, all that stuff. Then I saw the arena, which was crazy. The arena was absolutely insane. I saw the academic advisor and pretty much all the all the resources and all the facilities I’ll be using.”
Bennett had visits planned to William & Mary and Charlotte but decided he didn’t need to see any other schools. Like many recruits, Bennett said picking Dayton all came down to fit.
“When picking the next school, I was thinking about how I was going to fit into the system and the scheme,” Bennett said. “Coach Grant and the staff really showed me that on my visit, showing me video of last year and what they needed. Them showing me that really influenced my decision, as well as the relationship I had with Ricardo and the relationship I was able to build with coach Grant over the last couple of weeks, as well playing in a bigger conference. I was in the Northeast Conference, and I feel like I was able to give myself the opportunity to play in a bigger conference and Dayton gave me an opportunity to do this.”
About the Author
